Saison | Stone Brewing

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Notes / Commercial Description:
A modern take on a Belgian classic
First Release: April 2014

In spring 2011, Stone bought the farm, literally, taking over 19 acres of fertile Southern California soil where we now grow pristine fruits, vegetables, herbs and more for our Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens restaurants. A taste of our homespun farm-to-tableism is provided in this farmhouse ale. Lemon zest, grains of paradise, lemon thyme and lavender harvested in Southern California fields, including our own at Stone Farms, provide citrus and floral character along with a subtle, tantalizing spice. Thanks to the infusion of fresh West Coast ingredients, this isn’t your everyday saison. It’s our saison—100% Stone.

Reviews by MattyG85:

Appearance: Pours a bright and slightly hazy golden orange with a moderate amount of bubbles. About one finger of white head that fades into a thin patchy layer. Leaves a decent amount of lacing.

Smell: A zesty and pretty spicy farmhouse style aroma with big hints of citrus and floral spice. Belgian yeast with some hints of clove, farmhouse funk, peppers, and a quite noticeable scent of lavender spicing. Fruit hints of lemon, banana, orange, white grape, and apple. Floral and earthy hop hints with some grass. Pale malt with some hints of grains, straw, and cracker. The lavender stands out. An interesting and solid aroma.

Taste: Like it smells, an interesting mix of spices and fruit esters with notes of citrus and lavender. Belgian yeast with upfront notes of clove, peppers, farmhouse funk, and lots of lavender spice. Fruit notes of banana, lemons, orange, white grapes, and green apple. Earthy and floral hop presence with some notes of grass. Soft pale malt with notes of straw, grains, cracker, and biscuit. Some candied sugar sweetness as well. A pretty nice taste.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a medium to high level of carbonation. Spicy, juicy, and pretty drying on the finish.

Overall: A really interesting and good twist on a Saison. Solid fruit notes with a bigger hop presence than typical for the style. The lavender adds a really interesting and nice kick. I haven't had such a lavender heavy beer since Indeed's LSD.

More User Reviews:

Pours a hazy medium gold with a huge billowy white head. Like a good Saison, the head is rocky and has awesome staying power. It hangs on for a long time with huge clumps clinging to the sides of the glass.

The aroma really throws me for a loop. The spices are really in your face and seem a bit overdone. A Saison should have some yeasty spice but this just seems a bit artificial. Too much lemon and ginger. Maybe just a slight hint of actual yeast esters coming through.

The flavor lets up on the spices a little bit but not much. Still a huge hit of lemon with ginger figuring in prominently. The ginger really stands out to me and overpowers the yeast esters which are there but buried in the background. There is a good deal of heat on the back of the throat after the finish from the ginger. Mouthfeel is a little too sweet and sticky for the style.

Overall, I absolutely love Saisons and they are one of my favorite style; Stone has not done it justice. Making a good Saison basically involves using the right yeast and the right temperatures. It seems like Stone just through a ton of spices in the brew to cover up any imperfections. Not really worth seeking out.

Its appearance was golden with an off white colored one finger head that had some retention. The lacing on the glass was present throughout the session.
Not quite clear as it was somewhat hazy. Nice carbonation bubbles rising to the top. A few sediments playfully dancing in the glass as well.

The nose was of lavender, very faint citrus, maybe lemon, Pilsner hops and what I'm only assuming to be adjunct grains.
Unfortunately the taste is where this beer lost me. It tasted as if I was drinking cold bath water. I picked up the citrus, albeit very subtly. It was the taste of everything else that did me in. The lavender was very prominent, as was the Pilsner hops. Not very "hoppy" but the combination of Pilsner and lavender just didn't do it for me.
Sad to say that the rest of this one found its way down the drain of the kitchen sink.

Not the best Saison in my humble opinion, but if you've had it and enjoyed it then that's all that really matters.

Appearance: Pours a beautiful, cloudy, golden copper/orange color with a full finger of white-colored head that quickly dissolved away into a thin lacing of foam that completely covered the top of the beer.

Aroma: Very aromatic with strong aromas of bready, toasted malt, imparting notes of English muffins and sourdough bread, mingled with tons of orange-like citrus, ginger, coriander, saffron, honey, clover, honeysuckle, a touch of sage and thyme, and lots of Belgian yeast. Very nice!

Taste: Pretty good, but not as nice as the aroma. A lot of the same flavors as the aromas are present, specifically, toasted malt, orange-like citrus, ginger, coriander, saffron, honey, clover, honeysuckle, a touch of sage and thyme, and lots of Belgian yeast, however, there’s also a lot of piney, bitter hops, which makes it the bitterest, hoppiest saison I’ve ever had.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied and very effervescent, as there is quite a bit of carbonation. With an ABV of 6.0%, there is no alcohol on the palate.

Overall: This is a pretty good saison, but to my palate, not great. I like the flavors of toasted malt, orange-like citrus and the spices, but for my taste, there is way too much hops and bitterness. It really doesn’t even come off as a saison, in my mind, just a very spicy American pale ale or IPA. I shouldn’t have been surprised, this is a beer brewed by Stone Brewery, however, I am disappointed.

For some reason I expected Stone's Saison to be bigger than it is, or maybe I should say "aggressive". I guess I have to get that perception out of my mind though as they've made a few more less-agressive beers lately. However, it does still have an edgy character to it!

It's fruity upfront with apple, peach, and lemon zest backed by sweetish malt, but then it begins to dry quickly. Firstly there's a touch of mustiness which is quite charming, followed by a sprinkling of white pepper, and then herbs. Fresh rosemary is used, and it comes through clearly. Some black pepper comes in, and then some chalky dryness from the yeast follows. To bring us back to the start of the dryness, there's more spicy pepper that very slowly fades in the long-lingering finish. The bitterness is kept in check, leaving it nicely balanced despite the spiciness.

I find it interesting in that the dryness at the end prompts you to go back to the beginning where you found that juicy fruitiness, making it almost compellingly drinkable. What it lacks is something that I find kind of intangible, or at least hard to explain in many cases, and that has to do with the complexity of the yeast. This is fairly straightforward, and essentially "clean", which is usually a great thing but this time around I'm missing a little bit more of the funkiness or unusual yeasty character that you sometimes find in a saison. On the other hand, they do state that it's "A MODERN TAKE ON A BELGIAN CLASSIC", so I can hardly complain - and as I look at an empty glass I really can't complain! If you can handle the spicy pepperiness that'll build on your palate I'd recommend you give it a shot.

Lovely medium gold and exceptionally clear. Medium head dissipates to leave some lacing along the walls of the glass.

A bouquet of citrus and herbs backed by flowers and spice stands out over top a faint sour note and some sweet, subdued grainy malt.

Much of the same on the palate, but differently ordered. Pale malt with an exciting peppery tingle, followed by a bright green herbal flavor. Lemon peel is there too, but so delicately wrapped up in the floral and herbal character that they seem inseparable. The light sweetness on the palate disappears on the finish, leaving a dry lemon-pepper aftertaste with bright lemony-herbal bitterness that is as the same time satisfying in itself and dying to be washed away with another sip.

Medium-light body. Fine carbonation and pepper spice make the mouthfeel. The peppery character might be overdone for some, but I really enjoy its center-stage presence.

Considering that saisons at their origin were likely seasoned with more than just hops, Stone's seemingly non-traditional saison may be more traditional than one thinks at first. Either way--it's delicious, and I'll buy it again whenever it's on shelves.

Looks like a summer beer! On the smell I get citrus/lemony notes and a hint of lavender with the grains of paradise and grainy malt smells underneath it. I also smell the clove from the Belgian yeast. A nice wave of citrus/lemon hits the tongue with a tiny bit of lavender in the middle and ending with a slight hoppy bitterness, grains of paradise, grainy malt and a slight habanero burn from the peppers they use in the brew which isn't listed but in the tasting notes. Perhaps they wanted to leave it a secret like Stone does with some of their recipes.

The base of the beer reminds me of Samuel Adams summer ale (I know Greg Koch doesn't like Jim Koch) but with a belgian yeast and way more spices. Being that I live in socal and knowing all the herbs and spices in this beer were grown on a farm not too far away from me really is a nice thought while sitting outside sipping on one of these! Good to know Stone can really nail other styles and make it their own!

The beer seems great at first but then a medicinal, powder pill flavor sets in. It was like that feeling you have when you keep medicine in your mouth for too long before you down it. Extremely bitter and did not seem right to me.

I'm sure it is a great beer and that I more than likely had a bad bottle. But, the one I had was DEFINITELY just barely a 1.5.

Had on tap today at Sticks and Stones.Came to the table ina snifter a light lemon yellow with a half finger white head that left some froth.Lemon oils in the nose along with some yeasty spice.Tart lemon flavors with the sage just faintly is detected,mild white pepper in the finish.Not but it's not overly complex,basic but drinkable.